The Swimming Pool

The swimming pool is large (approx 8m x 5m) and is now available. It has been fully renovated as an eco-friendly hybrid bio-pool. The main pool and bio-filter pond (basically a technically-advanced reed-bed system with various layers of specially-chosen aggregates) is separated from the main swimming area by the wall seen in the foreground. There is an ultraviolet lamp to sterilize the water and ensure that any unpleasant organisms do not survive the filtration process. It is probably safe to drink the water (I have), but very obviously I cannot and I do not guarantee water safety! So I would advise not drinking the water, and also would ask that no organic or inorganic materials of any kind are introduced into the system, such as blood, sun creams, urine, soap powders, chlorine, salts, other pool chemical treatments, and so on... just you, please. Otherwise, the system may become unbalanced for a long while, or fail completely putting you and others at risk.

The swimming pool:

The "plastic lilies":

The "plastic lilies" are home made insulation panels, needed because the pool is not quite rectangular and a single sheet design would be difficult. They can be stacked on top of each other for swimming, or carefully removed (by two people please) from the pool. Please note that they are very fragile and bend very easily, and are not to be used as toys either in or out of the pool.

The pool is heated by a large and efficient direct-heating solar-powered system (of total area approximately 20 square metres) laid out along the top of an arbour in the garden. This gives out an astonishing amount of free heating power during the day, and enables the temperature to very quickly reach about three degrees below the daily maximum air temperature, enabling the pool to be used with comfort throughout a large part of the year (depending of course upon the weather).

The pumphouse and environmental/solar heating panel:

You'll be delighted by not being covered with chlorine and unpleasant/unhealthy related compounds such as chloramines, and your skin and hair will emerge feeling soft and fresh.

Of course, being a biological system, the pool contains some algae and some insects that feed on them, such as pondskaters and waterboatmen ("backswimmers"), as you would expect, and in fact they are an indication of the quality of the water. See below for just a few links to bio-pool information, and some about the risks of chlorine pools.